Fracking Bans Get High-Court Test

Municipal Restraints on Drilling Method Challenged in Two Cases

New York state's highest court heard arguments Tuesday on two cases concerning whether towns can use zoning regulations to ban the practice of the natural-gas extraction method known as fracking.

Legal experts say the decision made by the state of New York Court of Appeals will have ramifications for more than 170 towns and cities in the state that have banned or enacted moratoria on fracking, according to FracTracker Alliance, a...